Compositions comprising poly(arylene ether)s and polyolefins are known in the art, and compositions further comprising a variety of impact modifiers and compatibilizing agents have been described.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,559 to Yamauchi et al. generally describes a composition comprising (a) a polyphenylene ether having a low degree of polymerization, with or without a styrene resin, (b) a polyolefin, and (c) a styrene compound/conjugated diene block copolymer or a hydrogenation product thereof. Use of inorganic fillers, such as glass fiber, potassium titanate whiskers, talc, and precipitated calcium carbonate, is described.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,997 to Shibuya et al. generally describes a composition comprising (a) a polyolefin resin, (b) a polyphenylene ether resin, and (c) a hydrogenated block copolymer of an alkenyl aromatic compound and a conjugated diene that contains 45-80 weight percent of a repeating unit derived from the alkenyl aromatic compound. Addition of fillers, such as glass fiber, wollastonite, potassium titanate whiskers, mica, talc, and calcium carbonate, is described.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,904 to Ting generally describes compositions comprising (a) a polyphenylene ether, (b) a poly(alkenyl aromatic) resin, (c) a polyolefin resin, (d) an alkenyl aromatic copolymer or terpolymer, and (e) a minor amount of fibrous glass.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,912 to Furuta et al. generally describes a composition comprising (a) a polyphenylene ether, (b) a styrene-modified propylene polymer or a composition containing a styrene-modified propylene polymer and polypropylene, and (c) at least two rubbery substances, one being compatible with (a) and the other incompatible with (a). Use of reinforcing agents and inorganic fillers is described.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,081,187 to Maruyama et al. generally describes a composition comprising specific amounts of (a) a polyolefin, (b) a polyphenylene ether, (c) a partially hydrogenated alkenyl aromatic compound-isoprene block copolymer, and (d) an alkenyl aromatic compound-conjugated diene block copolymer. Use of fillers, such as glass fiber, wollastonite, potassium titanate, whisker, mica, talc, and calcium carbonate, is described.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,281 to Furuta et al. generally describes compositions comprising (a) a polyphenylene ether, (b) a propylene polymer modified by grafting with a styrene-based monomer, alone or in combination with a propylene polymer, (c) a rubbery substance, and (d) an inorganic filler having an average particle diameter of 0.05-10 micrometers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,418,287 to Tanaka et al. generally describes a composition comprising (a) a polyphenylene ether, (b) a crystalline polyolefin resin, and (c) a graft copolymer where the backbone is a copolymer of (i) ethylene or at least one C3-C2 alpha-olefin, and (ii) at least one chain nonconjugated diene. Use of reinforcing agents, such as glass fibers, mica, talc, precipitated calcium carbonate, silica, wollastonite, and potassium titanate whisker, is described.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,031,049 to Chino et al. generally describes a composition comprising specific amounts of (a) a component composed of syndiotactic polystyrene and a polyolefin, (b) a block or graft styrene-olefin copolymer having a styrene content of 40 to 85% by weight, and (c) a polyphenylene ether. Use of inorganic fillers is described.
European Patent Application No. 412,787 A2 to Furuta et al. generally describes compositions comprising (a) a polyphenylene ether, (b) a propylene polymer modified by grafting with a styrene-based monomer alone or in combination with another copolymerizable monomer, with or without an unmodified propylene polymer, and (c) a rubbery substance having chain A miscible with all or part of (a) and chain B miscible with all or part of (b). Use of reinforcing agents, including glass fiber filaments, is described.
The commercial value of the above described compositions has been limited by deficiencies in the balance between stiffness and impact strength, as well as the consistency of various properties from batch to batch and from molded sample to molded sample within the same batch. There remains a need for poly(arylene ether)-polyolefin compositions having improved property balances. In particular, there remains a need for poly(arylene ether)-polyolefin compositions exhibiting improved impact strength at very high stiffness. There also remains a need for poly(arylene ether)-polyolefin compositions exhibiting reduced variability in key properties, including stiffness and impact strength.